Ecuador · Provincia de Manabí
Where to Stay in Manta, Provincia de Manabí
Manta is a city of the Pacific coast of Ecuador in Manabí, the country's great tuna port, an old seafaring town near the town where the true Panama hat is woven.
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Where to stay in Manta
Each area has its own feel; here's who each one suits.
Where you stay in Manta turns on the beach or the port. The streets along Murciélago keep the beach, the seafront, and the market within a walk, and staying by the shore suits anyone here for the sea. The warm bay lies below.
Fishing boats fill the harbour. Out toward Montecristi and the coast, the town gives way to the hat towns, the dry hills, and the beaches down the shore. A room out of town trades the seafront for the hill villages, the hat workshops, and the quiet coves of the coast.
Beaches follow the shore a long way south. Stay by the beach for the sea, or out for the hats. The tuna port sits on its Manabí bay.
About Manta
Manta is the tuna port of Ecuador.
What is Manta known for?
On the Pacific coast of Manabí in Ecuador, it grew from an ancient seafaring people into the country's great fishing port, and it keeps the busy tuna harbour and canneries by the bay, the beaches along its shore, the Manteño heritage of the old coast, and the Panama-hat weavers of Montecristi nearby. The warm Pacific laps the bay. Fishing boats crowd the harbour.
What are the main landmarks in Manta?
The tuna harbour is the pride of Manta. The great fishing port and canneries on the bay, where the largest fleet of Ecuador comes in, is the emblem of the city, downtown. A town nearby weaves fine hats.
The weavers of Montecristi make the true Panama hat close by, while the Murciélago beach, the Manteño ruins, and the dry coast mark the country around Manta.
What is the history of Manta?
Manta is heir to an ancient sea people. Long before the Inca, the Manteño people fished and traded along this coast, sailing great balsa rafts far up and down the Pacific shore. The bay took their name.
The town of Manta grew on their old harbour, and the Spanish made it a port for the coast of Manabí. Tuna made the modern city. The rich waters off Manabí filled with tuna, and Manta grew into the great fishing port and cannery of Ecuador, its fleet the largest on the coast.
Its coast drew travelers too. The beaches of Manta and the hat-weavers of Montecristi nearby drew visitors to the shore, and Manta grew as the chief city of the Manabí coast, keeping its port, its beaches, and its old sea trade. The tuna boats still fill the bay.
Manta keeps its Pacific port on the coast of Manabí.
Where is Manta?
Manta lies on the Pacific coast of Ecuador, on a wide bay of Manabí. The city sits on low bluffs above the sea, in a dry coastal land of scrub and beaches, with the ocean to the west and the dry hills of Manabí rising inland. The Pacific runs warm and blue.
Dry hills back the coast.
What is the climate of Manta?
Manta has a warm, dry tropical climate. Warm weather holds all year on the coast, with a short rainy season in the early year and dry sunny months the rest, cooled by the Pacific. The dry season stays sunny.
Ocean breezes fan the coast.
How do you get to Manta?
Manta lies on the Pacific coast of Ecuador, west of Quito. Flights land from Quito and Guayaquil, and the coast highway runs along the shore. Cruise ships call at the port.
Guayaquil lies south down the coast.
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Updated August 2026